31 March 2008

Somehow, I came into possession of Sally, a small, green, harmless snake, who's probably about 25 years old. Anna Ernst, Sally and I were going to some event at Spanish House (which had moved into my elementary school).

A 25 year old snake? Why, who's been caring for it all this time? you ask. Well, originally, it was purchased by Jane Fonda (a member of the Oberlin College English department faculty) when she (Jane) was 30. Then Sally was jointly cared for by Dave Vohden (fellow Oberlin student) and his grandmother, since Dave turned 6.

30 March 2008

Five cool things1. (Most importantly) I found out I got accepted into the Смольный summer langauge intensive. Two months of my summer will be spent studying Russian in St. Petersburg! Ура!2. I saw a concert by the St. Petersburg String Quartet last weekend. It was wonderful; it made me feel really sleepy.3. On the knitting front, I made significant progress on my dad's scarf. It totally might be in the mail tomorrow.4. I did a little work on my felted dragon. She's got eyes and upper teeth now.5. Aaand I had a good time in Elyria. I got some craft supplies for various endeavors (thanks for the gift card, Grandma!), and had lunch at Fazoli's. That's right, all you kids in Minnesota. It's not in Coon Rapids anymore, but they've got them in Ohio. What do you get for not leaving the five state area? LESS ITALIAN FOOD.

One weird occurrenceI was planning on watching RHPS earlier in the week, and got it from the library. However, several hours after I left the library (of the Oberlin Public sort), I realized they had not given me RHPS, but Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World. If it had been the original, I might have actually watched it. But no. It was some lousy sequel.

Things I said I'd do but didn't- reread the 7th Harry Potter book (I got through three chapters)- finish Lamb, by Christopher Moore- do some work- swatch for Blaze (sweater by Jenna Adorno)

The break with traditionI did NOT sleep through church this morning, as I have done the last two years. (Yes, I was quite a bit late, but that's because I was eating breakfast and returning movies to the library.)

So, putting it all together like that, I guess I did do quite a bit. Maybe not. But I had a good time.

17 March 2008

We have officially frogged Mosey, and are casting on 76 stitches this time (the right number) instead of 72. The cables will fit properly.

It's not that I can't chart my own cable. It's that part of the look with Mosey is that from the front, the cable pattern is a wide expanse of the same thing, with only one contrasting panel in the very back. To have a different one running down the middle would have changed the look substantially.

The Great Legwarmer adventures is pretty exciting, unless you're really into knitting, in which case you might not care. Too bad, my friends. You'll have to read it anyway, in order to hear about my weird encounter with some people that were driving around Oberlin last night.

So, for the last several months, I've been telling myself 'Man, I really need to knit me some legwarmers.' For leg-warming reasons. More recently, due to the influence of Linden, I've been recently enjoying cheesy 80s pop music more than I ever have before, which increases the need for legwarmers even more. And sort of necessitates that they be in a ridiculously bright color.

I realized that I have a pattern for some good-looking l-ws in Simple Knitted Gifts, which calls for Cascade 220 stranded with some Kidsilk Haze, I think. I decided to try it using some Jo-Ann Sensations rainbow boucle. (Brilliant decision, I know.) I was thinking the yarn was too thin, and decided to double strand it. I got about 2/3 done with one leg, and decided I didn't like it, and was slightly concerned about having enough yarn. (The skein looked huge, but it was only 300g or so, and doubling it... it was a valid concern.)

Monday night, at my X Files ExCo (small 1 credit class taught by Linden and Liz), I decided to frog it and start over using a single strand.

Tuesday afternoon, the spring 2008 issue of Knitty was put up online. In it, I found Mosey. It is incredibly adorable, exactly what I've been looking for, and a perfect excuse to restart the legwarmer project using an entirely different pattern and yarn combination.

Also, it was a way to justify buying this GORGEOUS jade green Ella Rae Classic I've been ogling for four months. I purchased it Wednesday afternoon, and cast on Wednesday evening.

No regrets so far. Nor do I expect any.

THEN. After two OSCA-related meetings last night, the first of which was responsible for me missing dinner at the co-op, I walked to the co-op to get some leftovers. Fortunately, there were some plates of food saved that hadn't been claimed, because our leftovers fridge had been too warm and we had to throw out all of the leftovers. I'm getting ahead of myself. ON THE WAY TO THE CO-OP, there were a couple of guys in a van, clearly from out-of-town, who stopped to ask where the Ivy Tree Inn was. For those of you who know the area, they were on Morgan St and Professor St, so I tried to tell them the Inn was about two houses away on the other side of their vehicle. They didn't really listen though, to what I was saying. Instead:

Guy: "Are you Russian?"Me: "Huh?" (I was a little taken aback. Since I spend so much time studying Russian language and politics, it was like a stranger knowing something about me.)Guy: "Are you from Russia? The Ukraine?"Me: "Um, no."Guy: "Really? You sound Russian. You speak with a Russian accent..."

I told him that I study Russian, but thought to myself that I'm pretty sure it hasn't changed how I sound when I speak English. But hey, I like Russia. I'll take it as a compliment.

Here in Oberlin, there's lotsa rain fallin from the skies. It's not too bad, but you still might wish you'd remembered to bring your umbrella. It's can actually be a nightmare for people wantin to eat some pie to enjoy the lacka blistery winter winds. Seein' as how its pie day an all. We should all be eatin pie in ninteen minutes. What to do if you're outside?

The answer, dearest friends, is waterproof pie! Available at your participating hardware-bakery stores, waterproof pie is just the thing for rainy pie days like today. People will walk around an see you eatin pie an be amazed when they see the delectable, impervious dessert in your hands an marvel at how the rain comes down an doesn't soak your pie into a crumbly, wet, hopeless mess.

Now I know you don't all think you're perfect, an I think you should really eat some pie today, preferably at what is by now fourteen minutes from now. But if you're thinkin, it's too accurate for me to eat pie at exactly 3-14 1:59, save it for later in the day, or wait until July 22. If you wanna know more about that you should spend some time readin the comics of the hilarious Ryan North; I'm thinking a this one specifically.